Description
Object description
British civilian messenger with Air Raid Precautions in Heaton, GB, 1939-1940; NCO served with 12th (East Newcastle) Bn Northumberland Home Guard in Heaton, GB, 1940-1942; seaman served as radar mechanic aboard HMS Jamaica, 10th Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and Arctic, 8/1943-8/1945; petty officer served as radar mechanic aboard HMS Jamaica, 4th Cruiser Sqdn in Far East, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Heaton, GB, 1923-1942: father's military service with Royal Naval Division in First World War; family; economic conditions during Depression; membership of Boys' Brigade; status of policemen; education and holidays; recreational activities; employment with brewery, 1938-1942; treatment of criminals during Depression.
REEL 2 Continues: relative's experiences during Depression; anti-German feeling amongst civilians, 1938-1939; anticipation of war prior to 1939. Aspects of period as messenger with Air Raid Precautions in Heaton, GB, 1939-1940: memories of declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; character of Air Raid Precautions; anticipation of gas attacks; provision of public air raid shelters; duties with Air Raid Precautions; German Air Force attacks including incident of parachute land mine dropping; reaction to being in an air raid; public morale; listening to radio. Aspects of period as lance corporal with 12th Bn (East Newcastle) Northumberland Home Guard in Heaton, GB, 1940-1942: weapons training; character of Home Guard; training routine.
REEL 3 Continues: route march; further details of German Air Force parachute land mine incident, 1941; rationing and black market; blackout; father's attitude to his volunteering for armed services. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Navy at HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness, GB, 11/1942: registering for Royal Navy; call-up to Royal Navy, 3/11/1942; issue of uniform; opinion of basic training; accommodation; character of instructors; watches; daily routine including breakfast.
REEL 4 Continues: further details of daily routine; use of free time; pay; injections; Sunday Divisions. Aspects of training as radio mechanic at Guildford Technical College, GB, 12/1942-5/1943: results of failure on course; start of training; range of ships radios; effects of ships gunfire on radio equipment; wartime improvements in radio equipment. Aspects of training as radar mechanic at HMS Valkyrie II, Douglas, Isle of Man, 1943: nature of course; training on maintenance of radar; types of radar sets used; how radar works; problems of maintaining radar and Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) in Arctic.
REEL 5 Continues: promotion on qualification at end of course; purchase of new uniform and insignia worn; conditions waiting for draft at Portsmouth Naval Barracks, HMS Victory. Recollections of operations as radar mechanic and petty officer aboard HMS Jamaica, 10th Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and Arctic, 8/1943-8/1945: character of ship; accommodation in Petty Officers Mess; relations with petty officers; role of commanding officer; communication system; role of Royal Marines on board; stowing hammocks; sleeping in hammocks and messing arrangements; rum ration; instances of drunkenness; gambling on mess deck; problems with seasickness.
REEL 6 Continues: organisation of mail; organisation of watches; character of discipline aboard; role of ship's chaplain and religious services; medical effects of overcrowding aboard ship; medical facilities; effect on morale of 'Dear John' letters; reputation of Master-at-Arms; naval tradition of attacking at all costs; relations between ship's captains and crew; armament and speed of ship; moving around deck in heavy seas; source of warm clothing; effects on hearing of ships guns firing.
REEL 7 Continues: command structure; morale on board ship; attitude to going into action; facilities for abandoning ship; reaction to going to sea for first time, 9/1943; effects of rolling and pitching of ship; procedure for going to sea; impressions of Scapa Flow, GB; fellow radar mechanics; role of Master-at-Arms; maintenance of radar equipment; location of radar mechanics; role of ship as part of covering force for Arctic convoys; role of ship covering Convoy JW 54A.
REEL 8 Continues: conditions on board ship during Arctic convoys; method of ships rotating turrets in poor weather; clothing worn by crew; supply of 'Ki' and rum in Arctic; route and speed of Arctic convoys; arrangements to pick up survivors; work on radar masts; degree of alert on convoys; role of ship with Cover Force Two covering Convoys JW 55B and RA 55A in Arctic, 12/1943; background to Battle of North Cape in Arctic, 12/1943.
REEL 9 Continues: effects of Admiral Bruce Fraser breaking radio silence to warn convoy of German battleship Scharnhorst's approach, 26/12/1943; outline of action against German battleship Scharnhorst; degree of damage to ship; bulletin broadcasts over tannoy; opening fire on German battleship Scharnhorst and sight of shelling on radar, 26/12/1943; function of transmitting station on board; lack of radar problems during action; effects of firing broadsides on board; destroyers firing torpedoes on German battleship Scharnhorst; ship's delivering last torpedoes against German battleship Scharnhorst, 26/12/1943; thickness of smoke surrounding German battleship Scharnhorst; reaction to sinking of German battleship Scharnhorst, 26/12/1943; return to Scapa Flow, 31/12/1943.
REEL 10 Continues: refitting at HMNB Rosyth, 1/1944; reaction of parents to hearing of action during Battle of North Cape, 26/12/1943; leave, 1/1944; exercises to simulate attacks on German battleship Tirpitz, 2/1944; escorting Arctic convoy, 2/1944; acting as covering force for Fleet Air Arm attacks on German battleship Tirpitz, 3/1944-4/1944; method of protecting ship against torpedo attack; treatment for exposure on board hospital ship; problems in attempting to rejoin ship; supporting Fleet Air Arm attacks on German battleship Tirpitz, 7/1944; reaction to hearing of D-Day landings in Normandy, France, 6/6/1944; narrow escape from torpedo during anti-shipping strike off Norway, 8/1944; contact with Soviet civilians in Soviet Union; use of ship as Admirals flagship; promotion to petty officer, 8/1944; escorting Convoy JW 59 in Arctic, 8/1944.
REEL 11 Continues: German attacks on convoy; distributions of rations at action stations; ashore in Kola Inlet, Soviet Union, 8/1944; hospitalisation on return voyage to Scapa Flow, GB, 9/1944; taking supplies to Spitzbergen Island, Norway, 9/1944-10/1944; reaction to striking shipyard workers in Jarrow, GB; refitting in Portsmouth; issue of tropical uniform. Recollections of operations as petty officer aboard HMS Belfast, 5th Cruiser Sqdn in Far East, 1945-1946: commanding shore patrol in Valetta, Malta on route to Far East; working up in Malta; situation in Malta; fatigue amongst crew; equipment used to protect ship against mines.
REEL 12 Continues: impressions of Aden, Aden Protectorate; arrival in Ceylon, 10/1945; climate conditions; problems with rats and cockroaches; anti-malaria precautions; problems of motivating crew at wars end; impressions of Singapore, Malaya; use of cigarettes as currency; situation in Dutch East Indies; sailing up River Irrawaddy towards Rangoon, Burma; civilian unrest in Rangoon, Burma; Crossing the Line ceremony; effects of demobilisation and influx of new crew; visit by Lord Louis Mountbatten.
REEL 13 Continues: proposed role for ship in war against Japan; opinion of Lord Louis Mountbatten; move to Dutch East Indies and situation ashore; Allied use of Japanese prisoners of war; firing on Indonesian insurgent positions; period in quarantine in Ceylon; leaving ship; in transit in India; fire in jungle camp; voyage to GB aboard HMS Glenroy; demobilisation process on arrival in GB. Aspects of post-war life and employment: size of gratuity; return to civilian life, 1946; medical effects of service with Royal Navy; attitude to having served with Royal Navy.